Has anyone swapped out the Kato wheels with the plastic axle on the streamlined names trains? I’m thinking of going with Eastern Seaboard or Intermountain. What axle size works.
I’ve had a few out of gauge and recently one ‘loosened’ and caused the baggage car to run slow. Plus I just don’t like plastic axles. I’d rather go with a solid metal axle to avoid any future issues but I don’t know if the current offerings are kato compatible.
I switched out plastic axle wheels on the Walthers El Capitan set when I was running HO for the same reason never had an issue with the intermountain solid axle, plastic insulators not withstanding. I’m guessing that’s a no from you…
If you have or can access a micrometer, you can measure the axle length. I have not gotten to the point to work on replacement wheels for passenger cars just yet but it will happen. I know I have Kato, MT, ConCor, and even some Model Power and Rivorossi passenger car trucks to deal with.
I have a lot of the Kato name trains, and have never had any issues. Of course, they have rarely been ran, so not a large sample. In general, I don't like to mess with Kato quality on anything I don't have to. Also, while it may not matter to you, you would likely destroy the resale value.
I have eight different Kato named trains that I run all the time on NTRAK setups. The most reliable trains that I have. I even replaced all the trucks with Kato trucks on my Texas Special train set that is mostly made up of old Atlas/Rivarossi cars. Took care of all problem I was having with those cars.
I would also be pretty hesitant to swap Kato wheels for something else, of my two name trains and various other cars, they are the most reliable. Operating with much less frustration than my MT and WOT heavyweights. my only issue with Kato quality was the first run GS4 axles that they remedied quickly.
Has anyone had issues with the wheels on the Olympian Hiawatha set. The first time I put mine on my track ( DCC, MRC components) it wreaked havoc on my auto reversers and sends my base unit into alarm. As near as I can figure, it has something to do with the cars being set up for lighting and having all the wheelsets as well as all the trucks interconnected. First I tried removing the bar that connects the 2 trucks in each car thinking isolating the trucks would solve the problem, but the problem persisted. To fix the problem, I had to resort to putting in plastic wheelsets. The kato cars are the only ones that have the issue........Old ConCor/Rivarossi cars, Intermountain/Centralia cars, Fox Valley cars, Rapido cars (all with metal wheels) all work fine.......but none of them are set up for lighting. Am I missing something? I'd love to put the metal wheels back in.
I don't know but that almost sounds like one of the wheelsets was missing an insulator or otherwise shorted somehow.
Hey Russ, a long time ago but still within this galaxy, I think it was on the old Atlas forum, you gave me some advice on converting some Concor passenger cars by switching out the wheelsets for Intermountain 36" wheelsets. I did so and it made all the difference in the world. I still have them and run them with every Ntrak set up we do. Maybe they might fit here also.
Dave, Is it possible that your Kato train is longer (probably 8 feet) than the isolated track section for your auto reverser? This could cause issues as the reverser isolated section needs to be longer than the train if all cars are lighted. - Tonkphilip
Yes, my Sunset Limited uses all Con Cor Budd cars for cores to mount the etched sides on. I replaced all the wheels with the IM 36” plastic wheel sets and put Kato couplers on. The blunt end sleeper is the only Kato core because I wanted electrical pickup for the tail lights. No problems with that train either. Glad I was able to help you with your cars.
Do you mean the weight bar or the two phosphor bronze contact strips. Those strips are what connects the two trucks.
Yes, the phosphor bronze strip is what I removed. I thought about removing the contacts in the trucks (so each axle was isolated), but the contacts are also the bearing cups for the axles so that option was out. The train IS longer than the auto reverse section because the section is on a Wye, but I experimented with different train lengths and that didn't seem to have any effect and it was usually the first (or only) car into the reversing section that caused the problem.........so even a single car caused problems. I found it odd that the cars basically are wired exactly like the locos (insulated by side metal wheels, running in metal bearing cups with each axle on a side tied together and a strip running between the 2 trucks), but the cars cause problems, the locos don't....... so 2 locos is fine, a loco and a car has issues, and simply pushing 2 cars over the reverser is a problem. The one difference is the motor in the loco, but the problem is definitely within the cars. The only thing I could think of is the cars have no load (they aren't lighted) and perhaps a "dead" short creates some sort of error in the auto reverser as opposed to a short thru a motor. Cars with individual metal axles don't cause problems. I thought about a "bad" axle......I got one once from Fox Valley that was a SOLID metal axle, but I tried different cars and they ALL had the problem, and I looked them over good when I swapped in the plastic axles. As a side note, the observation car on the train has lighted marker and drumhead lights, and I left the metal wheels on that car for power, and it causes no problems on the tail end. Back to the load-no load thing?
Dave, Is it possible that there are current step settings on the auto reverser? Perhaps the current being drawn by the lighted cars is too much for the setting? - Tonkphilip
Not that I'm aware.......the reverser is a board with 4 wires coming out of it wrapped in plastic........if there is any adjustment, they don't want you to get to it. And it would possibly be the opposite situation.......the cars are not lighted, but they have the wiring (wheel pickups, ect.) so current flows thru the car, but with very little resistance. That was why I wondered if possibly that was why the cars had issues, but the locos didn't........the locos have resistance thru the motor that the cars do not. Maybe that's throwing the reversers off. As I mentioned, the situation also sets my base unit into alarm, as if it's detecting a short, but the reverser should take care of that, but it's not. It may just be an unlucky combination of reversers, base unit, and cars that is impossible to fix without changing one component completely out, which isn't in the budget right now. I didn't plan to light the cars (with the exception of the marker lights/drumhead in the last car) and that seems to work fine. I may do some experimenting..........as mentioned, the entire train doesn't fit into the reversing section. That isn't really an option since the section is in a Wye...........in order to have a train fit, the Wye would have to be about 10'x10' in which case the Wye BECOMES the layout. But MAYBE I just need to get the locos out of the reverse section before the "lighted" cars get there. The cars don't care which way the power is going. My passenger trains never really change consists so if I added a couple of headend cars (with plastic wheels) between the locos and the Kato cars it would get the loco thru the reverse section before the cars start making the power jump back and forth.
Why do you think this strip would affect anything? All it does in an unlighted car is electrically connect the front and back trucks. Even without the strip, the axles on each truck are electrically connected. I really can't figure out why you think removing the strip would change anything. Did you try cars individually to try to isolate the troublemaker? That might provide some clues as to what is really causing your problems.
